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by
Ted Landau
July 18th, 2005
The Apple Store is a great place to shop. It showcases all of Apple's products in a cool environment, its sales help are generally knowledgeable, and the Genius Bar provides the sort of technical support that its name would suggest. Similarly, Apple's telephone technical support deservedly wins praise as one of the best, if not the absolute best, of any major tech company. But, if you have hardware that needs an out-of-warranty repair, beware. Apple may offer you a deal that would compete well with what you would get from a sidewalk con artist -- and be just as infuriating. At least that's what happened to me.
It all began when my 23" HD Cinema Display (the older ADC Plexiglas model) took a nosedive to the floor of my office (never mind what prompted it to attempt this diving feat!). The good news was that the monitor still worked perfectly after I returned it to my desk. The bad news was that the back leg that supports the monitor had snapped off. In looking at it, the fix appeared to be a simple matter that would take no more than a few minutes to do. The broken piece was attached to a hinge on the display unit by three screws. All I needed to do was get a replacement leg, remove the screws, and attach the new piece -- and I would be back in business.
Harboring hope that Apple would concur with my diagnosis and send me the needed part, I gave them a call. My hopes were quickly dashed. The tech support rep informed me that it was Apple's policy not to sell this part to end users. He could offer no explanation as to why; it was just the policy and there would be no exceptions. If the display had still been under warranty, I could have shipped it to Apple and they would fix it for free. Alas, it was not under warranty. Why? Because Apple does not offer AppleCare for displays unless the display is purchased at the same time you get a CPU. I had purchased my display separately, so it was not eligible. Period. No exceptions again.
Actually, extended warranties are generally a waste of money in my view. So I rarely get them. That is, if you purchased an extended warranty on every product you own that offers one and added up all the money you spent, and then compared it to what you would have instead spent on repairs for those products, you are certain to come out ahead by skipping the warranties. I had been willing to make the Cinema Display an exception to this principle, because these monitors are both expensive and more fragile than most other computer components -- but Apple had other ideas. So be it.
"What alternatives were left?" I asked the Apple support person." "Take it to your nearest Apple Store," was the reply. So I did. I packed up my monitor and lugged it over to Emeryville (CA) only to discover yet another unhappy surprise. To discuss what to do about my monitor, I needed to talk to an Apple Genius. The problem was that all the Apple Geniuses were currently busy with other customers -- and there was a queue of about a half dozen people waiting for ones to become available. To see a Genius, I needed to sign up on the waiting list. Except I couldn't. The waiting list had filled up for the day (even though it was still about 4 hours till closing time).
To avoid this dilemma in the future, I was told to sign up online prior to leaving home. While that was great advice for the next time I needed to see a Genius, it was a bummer at the moment. I did not want to have to drag my display back home and bring it back another day, especially when I wasn't even seeking tech support advice. I just wanted to order a part or, if necessary, leave the monitor off for a repair. I expressed my dismay. Happily, this was one occasion where an exception to the rule was permitted. I was told to wait a few minutes and the store manager would be out to help me.
As an aside, while I waited, I observed the Apple Geniuses in action. I was impressed. They never seemed to hurry a customer or get irritated. If it took an hour to explain even the most basic concepts, they patiently did so. Which I guess helped explain why you had to wait so long to see one.
Anyway, the manager eventually appeared and we got down to business. Once again, I was told there was no chance that Apple would sell me the needed part. I was not surprised at this point, but I thought it had been worth a shot to ask. What I could do was leave the monitor at the store and they would call me within 5 days with the cost of getting it fixed. I agreed. And sure enough, a few days later, I got the call. I was cheerfully informed that Apple would repair my display for $440.00.
Long pause, while I let this number sink in.
"What? You've got to be kidding!," I replied, "It's a piece of plastic that takes a minute to install. How can you even quote that price with a straight face? It's tantamount to robbery." As you might imagine, after my opening gambit, the subsequent conversation was less than cheery. In the end, Apple's policies were once again relentless and offered no room for exceptions. I was told that Apple charged a minimum fee for each type of repair, and $440 was it for this one. Take it or leave it.
I decided t o leave it.
I had gone the Apple Store route initially because I had wanted to avoid going to places like CompUSA (where, in my previous ventures, I had found their lone Mac repair person worked only on alternate Thursdays and hadn't ever worked on a Mac model newer than a IIci). But, living in the East Bay, I had a better alternative. I could go to the M.A.C. Store in Berkeley, a Mac-only Apple authorized service provider. Which is what I did.
What a breath of fresh air. I explained my situation to them over the phone. They instantly understood what was needed and said they could order the part and have it in their store in a few days. Somehow, the M.A.C. Store could do what Apple itself was unwilling or unable to do: sell me the needed part! The estimated cost would be around $80! Did I want to go ahead and order the part? You bet!
And sure enough, the part arrived as promised. When I brought my monitor to the store, they helpfully inquired whether I might want to do the repair myself (to save their labor charge). I said sure. So they supplied me with the needed screwdriver and within less than 5 minutes, my monitor was fixed. The icing on the cake? Their initial estimate was slightly off. The actual cost was $20 less! I only needed to pay $60 -- for a saving of $380 over what Apple had wanted.
I'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions from this story. For me, I know where I will be going the next time I need an out-of-warranty repair. And you don't need to be an Apple Genius to figure out where that is.